Show Recap: A Place To Bury Strangers Knock Out Power, Tear Through The Space

Power to the stage got blown out three times, twice in the first song.

A Place To Bury Strangers had so many pedals, amps, and projectors plugged in that the stage’s circuit breaker tripped three times during their set. (Nick Caito)

It could have been the array of pedals chained together to emit banshee howls of distortion. It could have been the huge modular wave form generator. But most likely it was because of the five projectors that A Place To Bury Strangers used instead of stage lights in order to complete the atmosphere of their set at The Space in Hamden on Monday night.

A Place To Bury Strangers at The Space in Hamden. (Nick Caito)

After the third circuit breaker was blown, Oliver Ackermann took advantage of the silence to deliver his only message to the audience: “Thanks for coming out.” The rest of their set was filled with the screeches of mechanical fuzz and drum beats. The number of projectors being used was also cut down to one.

Oliver Ackermann carries an amp through the crowd at the end of A Place To Bury Strangers’ set at The Space in Hamden. (Nick Caito)

A Place To Bury Strangers took pages from My Bloody Valentine (who was present not just sonically, but also on several t-shirts in the crowd), building a wall of sound for their live performance. The last song, ‘I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart,’ was pulled from a five minute track into a 15 minute noise freakout, replete with Ackermann dropping his guitar in front of the stage and carrying an amplifier through the crowd as far as the power cable would allow. This was the loudest band in New York, in Hamden.

Hunters’ set was accentuated by their lead singer curling up into a ball numerous times on stage.

Hunters, the second opening act, was a noise rock four piece from Brooklyn. Front woman Isabel Almeida, a pink haired girl in a Slayer shirt, took breaks from howling into the microphone to play one-woman jump rope with the cord and roll around on stage.

Landing, from New Haven, were playing their second show in Connecticut after a long hiatus. (Nick Caito)

The show was opened up by Landing, a New Haven area band vastly different from the other groups on the bill. Landing was on hiatus for some time, recently releasing a self titled album. Though different, those in the audience still seemed to appreciate this luscious space rock, with echoing guitar layers over synth swells and krautrock beats. This was Landing’s second show in Connecticut since the latest album’s release, and more shows are in the works.

A Place To Bury Strangers used projectors of rotating psychedelic and grindhouse-style imagery for stage lights. (Nick Caito)